While Dunn hasn’t hit 40 home runs since 2008, he’s played half his games in a pitcher’s park with Washington. Nationals’ Park hurt left-handers when it came to home runs, according to StatCorner’s park factors (94=below average, 100=average). Dunn still hit 20 home runs at home in 2010 and 19 in 2009, though, both of which were not lower than his road totals.

But U.S. Cellular Field is a hitter’s haven, as StatCorner rates its home run park factor for left-handed hitters at 122. That bodes extremely well for Dunn’s chances to get back to a 40-home run mark.

… Essentially, the White Sox are betting that Dunn can maintain his peak production into his early 30s while switching leagues and potentially transitioning to being a bat-only player. If he sees some age related decline, struggles in the American League, or doesn’t adjust well to life as a sometimes-DH, he’ll have a hard time justifying this contract.

However, Dunn has been a remarkably consistent offensive performer, and he’s going to the American League version of heaven for flyball hitters. While it’s probably a bit more money than I would have paid, it’s pretty easy to see Dunn being successful in Chicago for at least the first half of this deal. It’s probably a bit of an overpay, but it’s one that has a decent chance of working out.

It’s the right move for the White Sox to make. Whether it’s correlated to questions about his conditioning, Jenks has proven to be injury-prone over the last few seasons. And he’s due for a raise off his $7.5 million 2010 salary. There aren’t many closers that are worth ~$9 million. Jenks isn’t one of them.

But here’s why letting Jenks go is dangerous: All his advanced numbers point in the direction of a rebound year in terms of results. …

As for Jenks, he now becomes one of the most interesting free agents available. With no free agent compensation required, teams will only part with money in order to sign him. The disagreement between Jenks’ earned run average (4.44) and peripheral-based run average metrics (2.59 FIP) might lead to a discount rate as well. This is a guy coming off a season with a career-low xFIP (2.62) who also had the worst strand rate (65.4%) and batting average on balls in play against (.368) of his six-year career.

Those last two are vital to his inflated ERA. It’s common baseball sense: the fewer runners you strand, the more runners you allow to score and the larger your ERA grows. How BABIP plays into an increased ERA is no philosophical issue either, as more hits have a tendency to mean more baserunners and more run-scoring opportunities. Given how the rest of Jenks’ career has played out, it seems safe – if not concrete – to say 2010’s hit and strand rates will become apparitions rather than telltale embodiment of Jenks’ abilities. …

… Jenks has lost confidence in his deathly yakker, and must regain it to become an elite closer again. He threw it just 7.4% of the time in 2010, the lowest of his career—and often replacing it is his most hittable pitch, the slider.

And it’s not as if Jenks has lost his stuff, with a sweet K rate (10.42 K/9, second best of his career). His Fielder Independent Pitching (FIP, essentially an ERA-type figure taking fielders out of the equation) was as good as any in his career, at just 2.52. And his ground ball-to-fly ball ratio, which must be high to ensure success in a microwave like U.S. Cellular Field, was a career-best 2.80, indicating that Jenks, for all his woes, is keeping the ball down and mastering the ability to pitch in his tricky home park.

So a strong case can be made that Jenks is due for a strong, if not stellar, bounce-back season. Sabermeister Bill James envisions (not entirely because of but largely due to better luck, a BABIP trimmed to .307) a 32-save season and a 3.12 ERA.

So where is all the money coming from, with even Alexei Ramirez getting a bump on Thursday when the Sox picked up his $2.75 million option? Williams explained it as they were either going to be the haves or the have nots this season, and with so much already invested in pitching, they had no choice but to be players.

“I talked to [board chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] at the end of the year and usually there are four plans I give him,” Williams explained. “This year there were two. One was a young team and the other was we were going to add to the mix. We just didn’t want to be in the middle. If you’re going to be all in you go all in.”

Later, Williams was asked about the talks concerning free agent A.J. Pierzynski, and again brought up the pursuit of Konerko as a big reason why Pierzynski is on hold for now.

“We’ve had conversations, we’ve had a lot of conversations,” Williams said of bringing his catcher back. “Again, I value A.J.. I would love to have him back. My dilemma right now is do you take such an overture and let it take you out of the payroll zone that you may need to get a Paul Konerko back. We’re in a holding pattern because to be honest the next thing I would like to put back in a Sox uniform is Paul Konerko.”

The problem is that the Pierzynski ship may have already sailed. A source close to the situation said that Pierzynski was close to signing with Toronto.

That would leave the Sox going with Ramon Castro and Tyler Flowers, or pursuing Miguel Olivo.

One of the offseason priorities for the White Sox soon could be fulfilled through the free-agent signing of Adam Dunn, who agreed to a four-year deal worth $56 million, pending a physical.

… Dunn had expressed a desire to do more than simply serve as designated hitter, but Dunn also could see time at first base for the White Sox, even if free agent Paul Konerko returns. Dunn, 31, reportedly was looking for a four-year, $60 million deal, and with the White Sox already committed to $81 million through 13 players — not to mention arbitration increases due to John Danks, Carlos Quentin and Tony Pena — bringing in Dunn seemed less likely at that asking price.

… If Konerko decides to return to the White Sox, the team would have a potent middle of the order somewhat akin to the Konerko/Jim Thome combination from 2006 to the end of ’09. Adding that sum total to the payroll could mean the subtraction of a player such as Quentin or even Mark Buehrle, as well as a young player such as Tyler Flowers taking over behind the plate. Buehrle would be a possible trade option, as he’s set to earn $14 million in the final year of his four-year, $56 million deal. But the left-hander has full no-trade protection, and if dealt, an extra contractual year kicks in for 2012 at $15 million.

Since Dunn is a Type-A free agent who declined arbitration, the Sox gave the 23rd pick in June’s draft to Washington.

As far as Jenks, Williams wouldn’t close the door on him completely, but not at the price Jenks would have received in arbitration.

“Bobby Jenks brought a World Series to Chicago and I will never forget that,” Williams said. “And I haven’t closed the door on that. All it says today is with the dollars it will bring in an arbitration hearing we cannot go there. The message I have to Sox fans and to Bobby Jenks is he gave us everything he had. I’m proud of his growth as a person, a player and as a dad. I wish the best for him if indeed he does end up somewhere else.”

The White Sox didn’t take long to exercise their 2011 club option on Alexei Ramirez, making the decision official Thursday concerning their Silver Slugger Award winner at shortstop.

Ramirez will earn a base salary of $2.75 million, after he opted out of the final year of his four-year deal that would have paid him $1.1 million. The White Sox could have let Ramirez go to arbitration and had until Dec. 15 to make this particular call.